Wednesday, 31 March 2010
First Listen: Jonsi - 'Go'
Jonsi is the nickname of Jon Thor Birgisson, the enigmatic Sigur Ros singer. In Sigur Ros, his music is ethereal, sprawling and mysterious — it's even sung in a language of his own devising. But Jonsi also writes songs that can be upbeat, even celebratory, and often sung in English. His new solo album, Go, is where he's found a home for that music, and it's a brilliant and creative assortment of songs.
Recorded in Jonsi's studio in Iceland and in Connecticut, Go features wonderful arrangements of strings, brass and woodwinds, recorded with the help of Nico Muhly. Muhly has worked with Bjork, Philip Glass and even Bonnie "Prince" Billy; listen to "Tornado" and you'll get a good idea of the exhilaration Muhly helps bring to these songs. You can hear Go in its entirety here until its release on April 6.
Birgisson grew up in Iceland, raised by parents who weren't particularly musical; his early memories include playing The Beatles at double speed on his turntable and listening to and playing along with Iron Maiden records. You can hear him speak at length about his musical past and loves in an upcoming episode of All Songs Considered, in which Birgisson plays guest DJ. His history as Sigur Ros' singer and guitarist spans 16 years, during which time the band has released five studio albums and created a sound that's dramatic, euphoric, thoughtful, spacious and unforgettable.
Mummy - what's a CD?
Universal Music Group, one of the "Big Four" major labels, is the first to react to the years-long decline in CD sales. CD sales are down 15.4% this year, a slightly slower decline than the two years prior but still a huge drop, and though digital sales are nearing the volume of physical sales, revenues are still plummeting. Retailers and consumers alike have clamored for lower prices on CDs, and the labels have responded far too slowly, dropping from $18 to $13 in 2003.
Now, UMG is radically changing the price of the dying format, to between $6 and $10 for single-disc releases. The announcement is making the other labels quite nervous--they'll probably have to follow UMG's lead, whether the program is successful or not, and really, it doesn't matter if it's successful or not, given CDs have precious few years left anyway. But sources from the other labels say that they may simply drop the standard price to $10, which while not as drastic as UMG's strategy may still encourage more CD purchases.
After all, CDs are objectively superior to music purchased from digital retailers like iTunes, Zune, and Amazon. They come with album art and a booklet, they never have DRM, and they're encoded in high-quality lossless WAV files that can then be ripped in any format of any quality the user wants, including several other lossless formats. But on the other hand, buying a CD is certainly a bigger pain than downloading; a user has to get to a store, get home, rip the album, and then move it to a portable device, rather than simply clicking a few times in iTunes. And, of course, environmentally speaking, CDs are far more harmful. Still, if the choice is between a $6 CD or a $9.99 iTunes album, the CD is unquestionably the superior choice.
While this is an encouraging show of flexibility from the notoriously rigid major labels, it's not going to change the basic fact that the move is merely delaying the death of a format. The cut isn't going to "revitalize," "save," or "make viable" CDs: it'll just make them slightly more desirable for a couple of years until digital firmly buries physical.
Shows you how long the bastards have been overpricing though...
'Nyet' to $1 million?
Perelman has been without work for four years and has declined all job offers. He previously worked at the Steklov Mathematics Institute.
HERE
Will my Toyota reach escape velocity?
The federal probe into runaway Toyotas has resulted in enough scientific mystery that investigators have asked NASA scientists for help.
The nation's auto-safety regulators have tapped nine experts from the space agency to answer questions involving software, hardware and other electronics issues, the Department of Transportation is expected to announce Tuesday, according to sources briefed on the plan who asked not to be identified because it is not yet public.
A separate panel from the National Academy of Sciences will be convened to work on a broad 15-month review of vehicle electronics and incidents of unintended acceleration across the industry. That probe will cover the potential for problems in electronic controls, human error and mechanical failure.
Peter Whoriskey @'TheWashingtonPost'
Meteorologists vs. Climatologists: the final confrontation...
Basically, we're back to the same old opposition: people with more education being regarded as having a private agenda by people with less education. We're doomed by our own petty behaviour.
The split between climate scientists and meteorologists is gaining attention in political and academic circles because polls show that public skepticism about global warming is increasing, and weather forecasters — especially those on television — dominate communications channels to the public. A study released this year by researchers at Yale and George Mason found that 56 percent of Americans trusted weathercasters to tell them about global warming far more than they trusted other news media or public figures like former Vice President Al Gore or Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential candidate.
...
Yet, climate scientists use very different scientific methods from the meteorologists. Heidi Cullen, a climatologist who straddled the two worlds when she worked at the Weather Channel, noted that meteorologists used models that were intensely sensitive to small changes in the atmosphere but had little accuracy more than seven days out. Dr. Cullen said meteorologists are often dubious about the work of climate scientists, who use complex models to estimate the effects of climate trends decades in the future.
But the cynicism, said Dr. Cullen, who now works for Climate Central, a nonprofit group that works to bring the science of climate change to the public, is in her opinion unwarranted.
“They are not trying to predict the weather for 2050, just generally say that it will be hotter,” Dr. Cullen said of climatologists. “And just like I can predict August will be warmer than January, I can predict that.”
Three years ago, Dr. Cullen found herself in a dispute with meteorologists after she posted a note on the Weather Channel’s Web site suggesting that meteorologists should perhaps not receive certification from the meteorological society if they “can’t speak to the fundamental science of climate change.”
Resentment may also play a role in the divide. Climatologists are almost always affiliated with universities or research institutions where a doctoral degree is required. Most meteorologists, however, can get jobs as weather forecasters with a college degree.
“There is a little bit of elitist-versus-populist tensions,” Mr. Henson said. “There are meteorologists who feel, ‘Just because I have a bachelor’s degree doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on.’ ”
Whatever the reasons, meteorologists are far more likely to question the underlying science of climate change. A study published in the January 2009 newsletter of the American Geophysical Union, the professional association of earth scientists, found that while nearly 90 percent of some 3,000 climatologists who responded agreed that there was evidence of human-driven climate change, 80 percent of all earth scientists and 64 percent of meteorologists agreed with the statement. Only economic geologists who specialized in industrial uses of materials like oil and coal were more skeptical.
Leslie Kaufman @'NYTimes'
Are dragons gay?
"We also discuss and offer a solution to the problem of how, since dragons are invariably male, the species can be propagated."
Antony Gormley’s Naked Men Perched on NYC Buildings
- British artist Antony Gormley conquers New York’s Flatiron District with his legion of naked men inhabiting pathways and sidewalks in and around Madison Square Park and perched on ledges and rooftops of buildings from 14th to 34th streets on Manhattan’s East Side. Cast from the artist’s own lean body in iron and fiberglass, the 31 anatomically correct statues, which make up the installation Event Horizon, literally swarm the park. Finding them is a bit like playing the game “Where’s Waldo” yet once spotted they bring to mind the angels watching over Berlin in Wim Wenders’ film Wings Of Desire.Winner of the 1994 Turner Prize, Gormley is celebrated in the UK for his spectacular public art works. His massive Angel of the North sculpture extends its wings high on a hill in Gateshead, while 100 life-size, cast iron figures in Another Place stretch out into the sea on Crosby Beach. Event Horizon, which marks Gormley’s U.S. public art debut, was first installed in 2007 on bridges, rooftops and streets along the South Bank of London’s Thames River. The New York installation, which is supported by its own website with a map, photos, and a video of Gormley discussing the project while scouting locations around Madison Square Park, remains on view through August 15.
Note: Following recent controversy about whether his sculptures looked like jumpers, we asked Gormley to comment. Here’s what he had to say:“I am confident that New Yorkers and visitors to this city will understand that the figures are works of art. The ambition of Event Horizon is to activate the skyline and to perhaps make people visually aware of their surroundings. Silhouetted against the sky these bodyforms look out into space at large asking: Where does human evolution fit in the scheme of things?”
Paul Laster @'Flavourwire'
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
WOW!!!
Musicvideo for Dominik Eulberg's: SANSULA (oder der letzte Grund) This is a low budget musicvideo done completely without CGI. All Takes are shot in a Forest with a Video Projector, an HD cam and some curious Frogs.
First Listen: David Byrne & Fatboy Slim - 'Here Lies Love'
Byrne and Fatboy Slim tell their stories using club music from the '70s disco era — Imelda Marcos loved the discos — and they incorporate quotes from the first lady and her husband, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, to help with the narrative.
The story is told using 22 prominent guest singers. Of those, 20 are women who portray the story's two main characters, including Sharon Jones, Annie Clark of St. Vincent, Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, Tori Amos, Nellie McKay, Kate Pierson of The B-52's, Martha Wainwright, Santigold and Cyndi Lauper. Steve Earle provides the voice of Ferdinand Marcos, while David Byrne sings lead on one song and shares the spotlight on another.
Musically, Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook) provides many of the beats, while Byrne mostly plays guitars, though that's a bit of an oversimplification. Many other musicians add rhythm and texture to a record filled with horns, woodwinds, strings and keyboards by Tom Gandey, a.k.a. Cagedbaby. Byrne and Cook composed many of the songs together, while Byrne wrote many on his own.
Here Lies Love — available here in its entirety until its release on April 6 — is a theatrical affair, though no theater piece is in the offing. For now, there's just the two CDs, the 120-page book and a DVD that includes historical footage cleverly edited to six of album's songs. Please leave your thoughts on the album in the comments section below.
Broken Haze - Raid System
..First up is Broken Haze, fitting as he’s the label head really. While he’s only been releasing music officially for a few years, he has managed to create his own unique blend of electro and future hip hop and made a name for himself in Japan in a relatively short time as not just a producer to watch out for but also a live performer worth catching. Filled with cut up melodies, chopped up drums, digital glitches, dark moods and at times quite heavy and industrial, his music echoes with the likes of The Glitch Mob, Prefuse 73 or Clark. His debut album was released in April 2008, entitled ‘Raid System’. He also forms half of Nerdz Era, a Japanese duo that makes full on, dancefloor friendly electro.
For this guest mix he’s chosen to showcase his own work and that of his friends, a perfect snapshot of his sound and a mix that deserves big speakers and a big sound for the full effect. Be sure to check his myspace and the Raid System site for more on him. He’s also got a track forthcoming on Jus Like Music’s ‘Oscillations’ compilation. And if you like what you hear tune into the monthly Raid System Radio sessions, broadcasted on Ustream live from the legendary Jar Beat Records shop in Kichi Jyoji.
Stay tuned for the rest of the series including guest mixes from XLII and Ken One. Next up is XLII..
Download Broken Haze – Raid System special pt 1 (right click and save as)
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